I've adopted a cat who formerly lived outdoors and likely has not lived with people before. She's incredibly friendly, sweet and loves pets. In the first few months we had her she was uncomfortable with us holding her (she would instantly tense up and start squirming) but that has improved over the last month or so - she now tolerates being held for about a minute or so.
However, we have a lot of difficulty clipping her claws. We can't really even hold her paws without her instantly trying to pull them away. And trying to hold her while we try to hold her paws makes it even more uncomfortable for her.
I'm wondering how others have helped squirmy cats adjust to tolerating claw clippings. Everything online I've read indicates to try the 'purrito' method but even this is difficult for us. We can never get her to naturally lay down on the towel/blanket and end up having to scruff her and force her down. And of course she doesn't like that so even that starts to feel like it becomes a "fight". (To be clear though, we never let it get to the level of 'fighting' her over it. When she starts squirming excessively and it becomes more like thrashing we let her go, speak calmly to her and try to reset.) But it's very frustrating and I can't find any good tricks online to help us all through this process.
